"
"Damn his neck!" said Lord Strathern, striding up and down the
room. "Better a neck cracked than a reputation. Things have come to a
pretty pass. You singing love-songs at him, he squeezing and kissing
your hand--perhaps going further. In these cases, women never tell the
whole truth! When he would escape by a leap from your window, you try
to keep him by strength of arm. You get on finely, madam! Three months
in the army have done wonders for you. Three months more will
accomplish you so thoroughly, that you will be fit for no other
society through life. I will tell you what, Mabel, I will not lose a
moment, but bundle you up, and pack you off to your aunt, while you
are yet worth sending!"
Between shame and indignation at this unjust assault from such a
quarter, poor Lady Mabel burst into tears, and rushed off to her room,
where she locked herself up, resolving never again to leave it until
she commenced her journey homeward. It was not long before her hasty
father repented of his coarse and violent attack on her, in a case in
which the heaviest fault was his own. He came rapping at her door, and
by dint of apologies, remonstrance, and commands, brought her out, and
induced her to spend the evening in his company.
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